Posted on 02/18/2017 8:42:50 AM PST by mac_truck
Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment.
Its a striking position from the worlds richest man and a self-described techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology.
In a recent interview with Quartz, Gates said that a robot tax could finance jobs taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which humans are particularly well suited. He argues that governments must oversee such programs rather than relying on businesses, in order to redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes. The idea is not totally theoretical: EU lawmakers considered a proposal to tax robot owners to pay for training for workers who lose their jobs, though on Feb. 16 the legislators ultimately rejected it.
You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed of automation, Gates argues. Thats because the technology and business cases for replacing humans in a wide range of jobs are arriving simultaneously, and its important to be able to manage that displacement. You cross the threshold of job replacement of certain activities all sort of at once, Gates says, citing warehouse work and driving as some of the job categories that in the next 20 years will have robots doing them.
(Excerpt) Read more at qz.com ...
And vote, right Bill?
This topic has been discussed around here before. It’s a good one. I for one am worried about what the future may bring in this regard. Not everyone is cut out to be an engineer, doctor, college professor, or artist. As far as that goes, a lot of those functions may also be replaced by machines in the fairly near future.
This is why you see some people discussing the possibility of the government paying a minimum “living wage” regardless of whether you work or not, because it may simply be impossible to employ enough people to keep society from collapsing. An interesting thought in any case.
It does, through its human owner.
How about you pay double for all the non-citizens you hire and bring here?
Getting sick of rich leftist retards.
I like typewriters.
Anti Trust big companies so small business can create competing products.
(Big Company) Anti Trust Tax is proportional to Regulation size.
Big corps write many regulations that pols pass.
Tax the big ones in proportion to the number of regulations they got passed. Bribery should have a cost, not just benefits.
Brussels has already taken a step in the direction recently. It’s coming, regardless of the impacts on society, industry, commerce, growth, innovation, etc.
How about we tax all the tax exempt foundations started by billionaires with the motto tax increases for thee but not for me.
but I don't think we will have any discussion here because people hear are more interested in beating up billGates justifiably.
No taxes without representation. Who are the robots going to vote for?
In the 70s I worked at a “youth center”—prison for juveniles. One of the trades being taught at the time was typewriter repair. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
It's immoral to tax income or production period.
Says the Chairman of Microsoft that displaces American workers with foreign workers.
>> Not everyone is cut out to be an engineer, doctor, college professor, or artist <<
Yes they are. Some people are just more lazy than others.
Some come from base poverty and still achieve.
It does, through its human owner.
Ever heard of sales tax, Bill?
Sheesh.
5.56mm
Bill Gates is an idiot savant. He excels in his narrow area of expertise, but when he opens his mouth on any subject other than marketing software, the full moron comes out in all its glory.
Gates contribution to the world the practical Desktop Computer put a lot of secretaries out of work as businesses found it more cost-effective to put a computer on every workers desk and ultimately network them.
I was in on a lot of office conversions, “taking the job away” from people doing tasks of unimaginable drudgery filling out logs, ledgers and records manually. In the process, I saw a whole universe of new jobs open up. Not just for networking people like myself, but for the very people who were being “replaced” from their former jobs of maximum drudgery
Bill Gates is good at making himself rich and screwing over others. Keep that in mind whenever he says anything.
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